Page 10 of Own to Obtain

Dream-Kardos frowned. “The real Kardos?”

“He never wants to talk,” Shaya explained. “Not when we are in bed, anyway.”

“I am the real Kardos, Shaya,” he said slowly.

Shaya’s smile returned. Of course he would think that. All people in dreams think they are real. “Of course you are,” she said to him.

“Then you should believe me when I say I am bringing you home.”

“I don’t have a home anymore,” Shaya muttered, her eyes lowering. “If I don’t dream of you like this, I’ll only have the greyness.”

The Alpha growled, his frown deepening. “If you have been drugged, I will—”

Shaya inched her face up and pressed her nose into his bushy beard, turning her face to feel its scratchiness on her cheek. It needed grooming and had lost some of the shape that she had maintained, but the coarse feel of it on her face made her sigh.

A rough rumble came from the Alpha’s throat and sent a thrill through her body.

“I love your beard,” she murmured.

“You do?”

Shaya dipped her nose to his neck, just under his ear, seeking the scent that she so desperately wanted to overwhelm her. It still wasn’t strong enough. “Yes. I love feeling it all over my skin.”

The Alpha pulled back, running his eyes over her. “You behave differently when we are connected in this way.”

Shaya blinked up at him, unsure what he meant.

“Are you with anyone?” he asked harshly. “Anyone other than your sister?”

She shook her head, her eyes widening as he became agitated. She couldn’t tell what was bothering him, but it didn’t really matter. She loved seeing the beast-like nature of him, and she was glad it was so present and accurate in her dreams.

“Return to me, Shaya,” he growled, his hand already dragging her panties down. “You are acting strangely. I’m not comfortable waiting three days.”

“I’m not acting strangely.” She shrugged. “I’m just talking. I told you, the real Kardos never wants to talk.”

“Why would I want to talk when I havethiswaiting?” His finger trailed up her sensitive, drenched slit, and she couldn’t help pressing her face in his arms to hide her embarrassment. “Every time I come to bed, I have this beautifully scented, tight, delicate, soaked sheath waiting to clench onto me and drain me of my seed,” he said huskily. “It quivers when I touch you and calls to me when I draw you into my arms. Even now, its scent is beckoning me.”

Shaya forced herself to lift her face back up to him, aware that she was highly aroused.

“It wants to be fucked,” he said, his voice salacious as he unbuttoned her tunic. “It wants me buried deep inside so it can convulse on my knot.”

Shaya couldn’t help but moan. He had never spoken to her like this before, but each word heightened her desire until his scent strengthened like last time.

“It is in need of attention,” he added, a large finger slipping inside her, “and I am not going to ignore your needs, Shaya.”

When he said it like that, it made sense that he was here. She could rationalize that.

Settling in that understanding, she swayed her hips for his probing finger, tilting this way and that at the slickened caresses he made deep inside her.

“You are sosazekch,” he whispered.

She closed her eyes as her pleasure heightened. “What does that mean?”

“It means sexy.”

She hummed as his mouth descended on her breasts, sucking her hard, biting them all over before focusing on her nipple. He was being rough but she could feel through the bond that he needed to. He wanted to stake his claim on her, knowing that in his mind, she was far away from him. And if she was honest, she craved it. She wanted him to take his claim on her—to settle her and make her feel that she belonged to him. And not because he wanted the seat or to satisfy his people or father or some kind of ritual, but just because she was his.

By the time he was sinking into her the bond was bursting with the unique give and take that existed between and Alpha and Omega. His craving for domination and power, and her need to surrender and soothe. And in that moment, the strange peace she had found in the Discovery Mountains bloomed in the center of the bond.

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